UPDATE: Charter School Withdraws Application

UPDATE: ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- The man behind what would have been Rockford's first Charter high school has withdrawn his application.

As you may recall, last year, District 205 denied Kerry Knodle's application for Greentek Charter School. Knodle was in the process of appealing that decision.

He tells us he met with the Illinois State Charter School Commission, who offered quite a bit of feedback to help imporve his application. Knodle says he will be working with the Commission to draft a brand new proposal in the coming moths. Knodle's ultimate goal is to help drop-outs from Rockford Public Schools.

ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- A final decision on a proposed charter high school for stateline drop-outs won't be delivered tomorrow as expected.

The State Charter School Commission was scheduled to be in Rockford to deliver its findings on the application for GreenTek Charter High School.

However, the group's website says the meeting is cancelled. The applicants for the charter school plan to release more information tomorrow.

You may remember the Rockford School Board rejected the proposal for GreenTek last fall, saying the program didn't provide for students with disabilities and ESL learners.

Proponents of the school say District 205 doesn't provide enough dropout recovery options, and this plan could help students between 17 and 21 earn their GED.

On January 4, 2013, GreenTek Career Academy Charter School (“GreenTek”) announced that it was withdrawing its application for a charter school in Rockford and its related appeal of the Rockford School District’s denial of the application. This decision was made following a meeting with the Illinois State Charter School Commission (the “Commission”) to discuss the status of its appeal of District 205’s denial of GreenTek’s charter application. At the meeting, the Commission provided helpful and constructive feedback on how GreenTek could improve its application. In addition, the Commission has expressed its willingness to collaborate with GreenTek in working towards providing a high quality charter school proposal. According to Kerry Knodle, GreenTek’s spokesman, the decision to withdraw the appeal was made so that GreenTek could promptly amend its application to ensure full compliance with the Commission’s mandates. As Mr. Knodle noted, “GreenTek is excited about the Commission’s offer and commitment to the process and is looking forward to working with the Commission in achieving GreenTek’s goal of providing deeply needed services to the Rockford community.

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